The records will show that Wake Forest competed in the 2010 ACC Tournament, but those on hand for its 83-62 first-round loss to Miami at Greensboro Coliseum know otherwise.
Facing a last-place team missing its leading scorer and rebounder, the No. 5-seed Deacons fell into disarray in the opening minutes and never got it together on the way to yet another post-season debacle. The Hurricanes, getting 22 points from Winston-Salem's Reggie Johnson, 15 from James Dews and 14 from DeQuan Jones, laid Wake Forest's Pack Line defense bare while shooting 52 percent from the floor and 47 percent from 3-point range.
"That's unexcuseable," sophomore Al-Farouq Aminu said. "If they're scoring like that, that means that there's something wrong.
"And usually it means that we didn't come ready to play and fired up."
The game was over before it really got started. Even with senior Dwayne Collins -- who had 23 points and 11 rebounds against Wake Forest in a regular-season victory -- sitting out with a stress reaction in a tibia, the Hurricanes whipped through the flat-footed Deacons' defense at will.
"They just came out hungrier than we did," freshman Ari Stewart said. "We didn't guard. We didn't get 50-50 balls. We got outrebounded.
"Just all the way around the boards it was a poor performance by us."
What shots the Hurricanes missed, they invariably tapped in. And almost every loose ball ended up turning into a Miami basket, often a second or two before the shot clock expired.
Wake Forest fell to 19-10 with its fifth loss in six games. Miami improved to 19-12.
"It's like the worst roller-coaster ride I've ever been on, playing in this game," said senior L.D. Williams of the Deacons. "It was horrible. We couldn't get stops. We couldn't score on offense. We couldn't finish on the break. It was just so many things.
"They got 50-50 balls and turned them into buckets. It was just a little bit of everything."
Ish Smith led Wake Forest with 14 points and five assists, Tony Woods and Aminu scored 11 each and C.J. Harris contributed 10, but the Deacons were sufficiently stymied by the Miami zone to shoot just 35 percent from the floor.
Aminu, who said he reinjured a bruised hand when he shot an air ball on a free throw with 4:50 left in the first half, sat for long stretches and played only seven minutes in the second half.
Coach Dino Gaudio did not mention the injury when asked about Aminu's time on the bench, instead saying he was trying to play the players who gave the Deacons the best chance to win. Chas McFarland, who did not play after picking up his third and fourth fouls early in the second half, logged only one minute after halftime.
Wake Forest, trailing 39-27 with 48 seconds left in the half, held for a last shot that resulted on Gary Clark's missed 3-point attempt.
Miami raced down the floor for a dunk by Jones and a 14-point halftime lead that had the Deacons attempting to regroup at halftime.
"There was a lot of emotion at halftime," Williams said. "Anger. Frustration. Hope.
"(Coach Gaudio) just really laid it out for us. He said if we didn't come out and play we'd lose. I guess that wasn't enough."
Miami delivered the knockout blow by scoring the first eight points of the second half. While the Deacons were missing two field-goal attempts, two free throws by Williams and committing two turnovers, Miami was putting the game away on a layup by Julian Gamble followed by three straight inside baskets by Johnson.
Down 49-27, the Deacons were no closer than 16 over the game's final 17 minutes. Miami twice extended the lead to 25 at 77-52 and 79-54.
"That was probably the deciding factor," Stewart said of Miami's second-half start. "They came out and scored eight points right out of halftime.
"Their momentum was still going from halftime. We were still moping around and feeling sorry for ourselves. They put their foot on our throat and shut us out."
Johnson made eight field goals on eight attempts, Jones made five of seven and Gamble made three of five as the Hurricanes became just the second team this season -- besides Georgia Tech -- to shoot better than 50 percent against Wake Forest.
The Deacons, coming into the game, led the ACC with a field-goal percentage defense of 39.4 percent against conference competition.
"If we don't guard we're not going to win," Williams said. "That's what we do.
"That's what Wake Forest is. We guard."
dcollins@wsjournal.com
727-7323
MIAMI MP FG-A FT-A OR-T A F Pts
Scott 28 2-10 1-2 2-5 4 2 6
Dews 29 6-12 2-4 1-4 2 3 15
Jones 27 5-7 2-2 0-4 0 1 14
Johnson 21 8-8 6-6 2-4 2 4 22
Gamble 28 3-5 2-2 4-13 1 4 8
Grant 27 3-7 2-2 0-0 5 3 9
Quigtar 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Allen 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
McGowan 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 0
Adams 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Thomas 24 3-7 0-0 1-5 0 3 9
Totals 200 30-58 15-18 11-39 14 22 83
Percentages: FG .517, FT .833. 3-Point Goals: 8-17, .471 (Thomas 3-6, Jones 2-3, Scott 1-2, Dews 1-3, Grant 1-3). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 4 (Gamble 3, Jones). Turnovers: 8 (Scott 2, Grant, Jones, Dews, Gamble). Steals: 4 (Thomas, Jones, Johnson, Dews). Technical Fouls: None.
WFU MP FG-A FT-A OR-T A F Pts
Aminu 25 3-10 5-7 4-7 0 2 11
Smith 34 7-14 0-0 2-4 5 3 14
Harris 33 2-7 4-4 0-1 0 1 10
McFarland 12 1-2 2-3 2-3 0 4 4
Williams 33 0-5 2-5 2-9 0 4 2
Clark 9 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 3
Stewart 21 1-9 0-0 0-2 0 1 3
Godwin 1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Weaver 11 1-1 2-4 1-2 1 0 4
Woods 21 4-6 3-5 3-4 0 0 11
Totals 200 20-57 18-28 15-34 6 15 62
Percentages: FG .351, FT .643. 3-Point Goals: 4-17, .235 (Harris 2-4, Clark 1-3, Stewart 1-7, Aminu 0-1, Smith 0-2). Team Rebounds: 1. Blocked Shots: 5 (Aminu 2, Clark, Weaver, McFarland). Turnovers: 10 (Aminu 4, McFarland 2, Harris 2, Smith, Williams). Steals: 5 (Harris 3, Weaver, Smith). Technical Fouls: None.
Miami 41 42 -- 83
Wake Forest 27 35 -- 62
A--23,381.
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